


stealing thunder

by TheLamestFad



Series: OtaYuri Week [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Fluff, Katsuki Yuuri and Victor Nikiforov are Yuri Plisetsky's Parents, M/M, Not Beta Read, OtaYuri Week 2017, Pining, Rated T for Yuri's Potty Mouth, day one: first times/confessions, in spirit anyway, post season one, victor and yuuri's wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 23:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9852221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLamestFad/pseuds/TheLamestFad
Summary: “What’s it to you, Katsudon?” he grumbles around a mouthful of cereal. “I find it hard to believe you noticed anything other than Viktor’s ass last night.”“Oh, I kept an eye on that too,” Yuuri responds easily, and Yuri almost chokes on his cereal. “But I also saw you walk away, and Otabek follow you. So? Did you get a chance to talk?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy OtaYuri week everyone! :D  
> This is my first time writing for YOI and it took me waaaaay longer than I hoped it would, haha. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to be able to participate in any of the other days, but I hope that you guys like this one! :'D  
> Also, this takes place some nebulous time in the future; ages are never mentioned. So feel free to imagine them whatever age you want~

It isn’t like Yuri _wants_ to feel this way. Actually, to be honest, he’s kind of pissed about it. It’s stupid and pathetic and it makes him feel like an idiot. After being forced into such close quarters with Viktor and Katsudon and the way they behave so stupidly in love after they settle in St Petersburg, Yuri is traumatized, terrified that if he ever feels that way about someone he will also lose his mind and become utterly crazy.

Which is why, when his heart starts to beat too quickly to just be normal excitement, when his cheeks flush in pleasure more keenly felt than it should be every time he talks to Otabek, he knows he is, quite literally, fucked.

The sad thing is, he can even pinpoint the exact moment that he realizes he is in love with his best friend, and can’t help but replay that moment in his mind with shame, dread and an odd sort of accomplishment. (Really, the accomplishment only comes because to be honest, feelings are not his specialty. He can make his way around anger, irritation, hatred, and any variation thereof, but the lighter emotions are not something he really could say he has a lot of experience feeling.)

They had been Skyping, as is fairly usual for them, when they can spare the time. Otabek, being three hours ahead of Yuri time-wise, would wait up far past his normal bedtime to be able to talk, and sometimes that led to him dozing off while they spoke if Yuri didn’t notice the signs in time and tell Otabek to get to bed. He knows Otabek feels badly about it, since it’s always him that can’t wait up for Yuri, so he will never admit when he’s past his limit. As a result, Yuri has become an expert at reading even the minutest signs of tiredness on Otabek’s face.

This particular time, Yuri had been gone, making himself a quick late night snack, and when he returns to his room, it’s to Otabek’s sleeping face, his head still propped up on his arm as though he was trying to make himself as uncomfortable as possible. It clearly didn’t work though, and as Yuri watches his friend sleep, looks at his face relaxed and unguarded in slumber, he feels his lips quirk up in a smile, and his heart beats a little harder in his chest.

He doesn’t realize he has been watching Otabek sleep for nearly fifteen minutes until he looks at the clock and almost chokes. Friends do not watch friends sleep while smiling tender little smiles and wanting to brush stray pieces of hair out of their friends eyes. Yuri slams his laptop shut, curls up on his bed and tries to will away the flush on his cheeks.

_Fuck,_ he thinks, scrubbing at his eyes. _I like him. I fucking_ like _him._

That had been almost a month ago now, and he is still no closer to figuring out what, exactly, he is going to do about these so-called feelings. He flat out refuses to let it affect his skating, and in the past weeks he has become an expert at shutting out anything but the music and his rhythm when he is on the ice. Off the ice, however, is a completely different story.

He still talks to Otabek of course; he can’t just cut off contact with his best friend, no matter how much it kills him internally to pretend that nothing is different. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to tell Otabek, or that he thinks Otabek will treat him any differently if he knows that Yuri likes him, but more along the lines that Yuri feels completely and utterly pathetic for falling so easily when he put up such a fuss over how he was never going to fall in love. It’s embarrassing, and makes him feel childish, almost like it’s so natural for him to fall for the first person that shows him any kind of respect. That isn’t Beka’s fault though, and Yuri can’t bring himself to take it out on him when it definitely isn’t his fault that he appreciates Yuri for being himself.

Otherwise though, he is tense and irritable, snapping at every little thing and even Mila begins to avoid him after getting shouted at one too many times for insignificant or imagined infractions. His rink mates now tend to scatter when they see him, and though it’s a satisfying sight on a certain level, deep down he does feel at least a little guilty. Or at least he _had_ , until they had apparently decided enough was enough, and nominated a ~~scapegoat~~ spokesperson to come forward and talk to him. Three guesses as to who it is, first two don’t count.

“Hello Yurio,” Katsuki Yuuri says gently as he sits next to his namesake by the rink.

Yuri glares up from where he’s bent over, untying his skates.

“That’s not my fucking name, Katsudon,” he grumbles, completely ignoring the hypocrisy in his statement. Yuuri, in turn, completely ignores the comment altogether.

“You’ve been kind of…” he pauses, seemingly trying to speak as delicately as possible. “...tense lately. Is there anything you might want to talk about? If you don’t want any input, I’ll just listen,” he adds quickly when Yuri’s eyes begin narrowing dangerously. “I know it helps sometimes to just have someone to listen so if that’s what you need I can—”

“Shut the hell up,” Yuri snaps, and Katsudon does, mouth closing so quickly Yuri can hear his teeth clack together. It’s good to know that he can still make the other nervous on occasion.

He says nothing as he bends back over, going back to removing his skates as slowly as humanly possible. Katsuki sits next to him, fidgeting ever so slightly as he tries to stay silent as per Yuri’s instructions. If the pig thinks he’s going to take pity on him because he’s letting Yuri take complete control over their interaction, he has another thing coming.

Throwing his skates into his bag he slips on his shoes and stands, walking out the door before Katsudon can even think to say anything else to him. Thank god. He really just doesn’t have the patience to deal with anyone or anything that he doesn’t absolutely have to, and Katsudon is definitely not someone he has patience for on a normal day, let alone lately.

He should have known that wouldn’t be the end of it though.

The next day when he walks into the rink it’s to find both Yuuri and Viktor waiting for him.

“Yurio!” Viktor calls to him, waving his arms high above his head as though Yuri can possibly miss him in the otherwise empty rink.

“How many times do I have to tell you that’s not my name!” he explodes, dropping his bag with his skates next to the bench so he can face the annoying couple unhindered.

“Oh Yurio, don’t be like that,” Viktor simpers, throwing his arm around Katsudon’s shoulders. “We just want to help out our young son!”

“I’m not your fucking kid and I don’t need your goddamn help,” Yuri huffs, feeling his patience for dealing with the two lovebirds rapidly reach its limit.

“Stuff and nonsense!” Viktor waves his hand as though swatting Yuri’s protests right out of the air. “You’ve been even more of a brat than usual lately and it simply can’t go on anymore! We’re all sick of walking on eggshells around you, you know.”

Both Yuuri and Yuri flinch at Viktor’s less than sympathetic speech, but the pig cuts in before Yuri can properly explode.

“We really are just worried about you, Yuri,” he says, and hearing his actual name out of Katsuki’s lips makes him relax a bit despite himself.

“I’ll take care of it,” he tells them, trying to be sincere so they’ll get off his back, but all he receives for his efforts are twin disbelieving stares. He huffs in annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest in irritation.

“No offense Yurio, but it’s been about a month, and nothing’s changed,” Yuuri says wryly. “Which is why we’re even talking to you about it in the first place.”

Yuri stays stubbornly silent, and Katsuki sighs, looking over to his fiance helplessly. Viktor takes over the reigns seamlessly.

“Well then Yurio, even if you don’t want to talk to us, we still want to talk to you. Not about this though,” he effectively causes Yuri to look up at him hopefully, thinking that his torment it almost over, and Katsudon to look at him with fond exasperation, shaking his head lightly.

“It’s about our wedding!” Viktor adds, smiling his biggest heart-filled smile as he mentions his upcoming nuptials. Yuri feels his hope slowly leak out of him as he realizes he has practically walked himself right into this conversation by refusing to talk about his own problems. It’s not that he’s not happy for Viktor and Yuuri, it’s just that they’re so disgustingly in love and they get even more sappy than usual when they talk about their wedding, which is rapidly approaching next month. It’s also exactly what he doesn’t want to deal with right now, but unless he wants to talk about his _feelings_ , which he distinctly doesn’t, he’s trapped either way.

Damn, Viktor is still smooth as hell when it comes to getting his way.

As Viktor chats away about tux fittings and table placements, Yuri lets himself zone out. He’s heard it all before; he’s Viktor’s best man, though he really still doesn’t understand why. He knows Viktor has other friends, like Christophe for example, but when he had asked why they wanted Yuri out of anyone Viktor could choose, they had both just smiled sweetly at him and refused to answer. Mildly weirded out, he had let the subject drop. If he had known at the time exactly how much work was put into planning a wedding, however, he would’ve tried harder to get an answer. It’s far too late for that now, though.

It’s with a sudden jolt of an emotion he can’t quite name, but it sinks into his stomach and sits there, writhing, that he remembers that Otabek is coming to the wedding. The pig and the old man had insisted on inviting every skater that had been present for the 2016 season when they got engaged, even the ones they weren’t that close to. As far as Yuri knows, they are all actually coming, too, though Otabek had expressed his concerns to Yuri that he wasn’t sure if he should go, since he wasn’t close to either of them. Yuri had mentioned in return that it would be a great time for them to get together without any other distractions, and Otabek had agreed almost immediately after that.

Yuri has a sudden spike of inspiration. Confessing to Otabek over Skype or text is completely out of the question, but if they’re going to see each other in less than a month… Yuri smiles to himself, pleased with his plan. It’s only then that he remembers he’s still standing with Katsudon and Viktor, though the old man seems to have long since stopped talking, and they’re both looking at him with these tender smiles on their faces and what the actual hell, Yuri thinks, feeling his face heat up in the face of such blatantly obvious emotion.

Viktor seems pleased enough and turns, walking towards the changing room to get dressed for the day. Yuri himself has no problem coming to the rink at the ass crack of dawn already changed into his skating clothes, but of course Viktor Nikiforov can’t be seen in public as anything other than utterly perfect. Yuri inwardly rolls his eyes. Katsudon stays behind with him for a second, even though Viktor’s beckoning him to follow him into the changing room. Gross. They make eye contact for a second, green meeting brown, before Yuri looks away.

“I’ll take care of it… at the wedding,” Yuri mumbles to him, his shoulders curling slightly as he talks into the neck of his sweatshirt, still feeling awkward communicating with the pig without raising his voice. It’s something that happens increasingly more often since the obnoxious couple decided to share Yuri’s home rink, but it still makes him feel oddly vulnerable. “I promise, or something,” he adds, remembering the incredulous looks he had received earlier when he made the same declaration.

Yuuri places a hand on his shoulder, and he chances a glance back at him through his curtain of hair.

“I’m glad you’re finally going to talk to Otabek,” he says with a smile. “I know you two will be happy together.”

And he’s gone, following Viktor into the changing room before Yuri can even process what he’s said. When it finally does get through, everyone in the rink, including Georgi and Mila, who have just walked through the doors, are treated to a massive shriek of the most colorful threats in Yuri’s repertoire, all aimed directly at that stupid fucking _pig_.

Georgi looks like he’s about to duck and cover, but Mila, never a soul that was ever afraid of him, moves forward and puts a hand on his shoulder, smiling broadly now that he’s no longer silently brooding.

“Aw Yuri! It’s been so long since I’ve heard you swear like that!” she says sweetly, and Yuri angrily shrugs her hand off his shoulders, stomping as loud as he possibly can back towards his skates.

“Shut the hell up, granny!” he shouts as he throws himself at the bench, and Mila practically cheers.

“Viktor! Yuuri! I don’t know what you said, but you did it! Thank god!”

The honest to goodness only thing that stops Yuri from jumping up and kicking Mila with his skates on is Yakov choosing that exact minute to walk into the rink, taking one look at all the chaos around him and taking his turn to shout at them all to get on the rink.

After that, he feels normal for the first time in weeks. Now that he’s no longer stuck in this weird limbo of _do-i-or-don’t-i_ he begins to feel more like himself, and less like the empty husk he’s beginning to realize he’d become over the past few weeks. He really does owe Yuuri and Viktor for that, he thinks. Not that he’ll ever tell them that.

Later that night, he’s Skyping with Otabek, feeling like it’s first time he’s smiled genuinely at his friend since he figured out his feelings, and Beka seems to be feeling his good mood and running with it, smiling more often than he normally does, and even laughing out loud when Yuri makes a bad pun.

Then he stops, and looks at Yuri kind of strangely, like he has something to say but doesn’t know how to begin.

“Beka?” Yuri prompts, good humor suddenly gone. “What’s the matter?”

“I got an odd text today,” Otabek starts briefly, looking down at his phone in consternation. “I think it’s from either Katsuki or Viktor. I don’t really know either of them well enough to say which, but…”

Yuri almost chokes on his own saliva. Oh he is going to fucking _kill_ those two idiots. He grabs his computer monitor in panic and demands to know what the text says.

Otabek raises his eyebrows a bit but does as requested and reads the text aloud to Yuri.

_“Hi, Otabek! So glad you can make it to the wedding. Yurio’s got something important he wants to talk to you about. He made a promise to us today so we’re just making sure that he doesn’t renege on us. Make sure you talk to him when you see him! See you in three weeks!”_

Yuri knows without even looking at his own small picture in the corner of the Skype window that his face is beyond red from a mixture of embarrassment and the burning desire for murder. He knows Otabek is looking at him for some kind of explanation for Katsudon’s text (and he has no doubt that Yuuri sent it, even if the idea itself reeks of Viktor’s influence; there’s too few random exclamations and nonsense words, not to mention the total lack of any backhanded insult masquerading as an innocent comment about Yuri’s bad attitude to have been Viktor’s complete brainchild).

“Don’t worry about it,” Yuri finally gets himself under control enough to mutter. He knows that Yuuri and Viktor are trying to help him out in their own way, but that’s not going to stop him from ripping them both a new one tomorrow at the rink. And to think, he had actually been feeling _grateful_ to them earlier. “They’re still under the weird delusion that they’re my parents. Ignore anything else they send. In fact, you can probably just block that number entirely, it would really be for the best that way—”

“Yuri,” Otabek interrupts him with a huff that Yuri can tell is an aborted laugh at his mildly panicked rambling. “If you want to wait until I come up for the wedding to talk about it, we can. But I figured I should at least let you know about it.”

“Thanks,” Yuri responds, feeling inordinately relieved. He had said he would speak to Otabek at the wedding, and mentally, that’s what he’s preparing for. He definitely won’t be able to handle any more sudden scares like that one, and once again he’s glad that he fell for someone so utterly understanding. That thought alone brings a blush back to his cheeks, but if Otabek notices in the washed out light from Yuri’s computer screen, he doesn’t comment on it.

The next few weeks pass quickly between practice and the rapidly approaching wedding. Phichit flies out earlier than the other guests as Yuuri’s best man to help with the preparations, meeting up with the rest of the wedding party when they fly out to Japan, and as a result, him and Yuri wind up spending a lot of time together. Yuri doesn’t mind Phichit, per say — he’s certainly not as annoying as that Canadian shithead JJ — but he’s just got so much energy, and even though Yuri is younger than him, he finds himself hard pressed to keep up. By the time the wedding rolls around, he’s exhausted both physically and mentally.

Yuri’s last task before the big day is to wait to greet the guests as they file into Yu-topia, and show them to their rooms. Unfortunately, that means spending pretty much his whole day helping around the kitchen with Hiroko and Mari, who are cooking up a storm, and only getting a break when he hears the door slide open and he can make a break for it before one of them stops him. He even has a weird crisis when JJ walks in with his fiancee, where Yuri actually feels happy to see him for a fraction of a second because it means he’s released, even briefly, from his kitchen hell.

The second, and probably more obvious, reason he jumps on answering the door every time it slides open is, of course, because he’s waiting for Otabek. He tries not to make it too obvious at first, every time he goes to the door and it’s _not_ him, how disappointed he is. But Mari and Hiroko laugh behind their hands every time he returns to the kitchen empty handed, so to speak, so he knows he’s not nearly as subtle as he wishes he were.

It’s just after seven pm, and all the guests that have shown up so far are just sitting down to dinner in the banquet room. Really, most everyone that’s flying from out of the country is already there, save for Leo and of course, Otabek himself, which is just Yuri’s luck. He’s also lucky enough to be considered family by the Katsukis, which means that when everyone else is sitting down to dinner, even Phichit, the other best man, he’s still running around with the rest of the Katsukis and Viktor, trying to make sure that everyone is more than comfortable with their stay so far. Mari and Viktor both seem to get unholy amusement from watching him wait on his fellow skaters, and so leave the banquet room to him and Yuuri while they retreat back to the kitchen to start on the mountain of dishes already there.

The front door slides open right when Yuri is on his way by with a handful of empty plates and glasses for the kitchen, JJ’s obnoxious laughter ringing in his ears. Yuuri had to step in and stop Yuri from slugging JJ when that Canadian shithead, after a few too many drinks, had thought it would be funny to call Yuri a waitress, the Japanese man dropping all his dishes in Yuri’s arms and practically pushing him out the door, shutting it behind him so it would be more trouble than it was worth to try to get back in the room with an arm full of dishes. He doesn’t even look up towards the door, just shouts for someone else to get it because he’s now also pissed on top of being busy and knowing his luck it’s just Leo anyway. But then a familiar voice interrupts his fuming.

“Aren’t you even going to say hello?” Otabek asks, dropping his suitcase by the front door. He begins slipping his boots off, and though he’s bent over he still doesn’t take his eyes off Yuri.

Yuri, for his part, almost drops all the breakable items in his arms to run and jump into Otabek’s, but barely manages to restrain himself to shouting, “Beka! You’re here!”

Otabek finishes sliding on his house shoes and walks over to Yuri, smiling that tiny smile he only seems to save for Yuri alone. He almost drops his dishes again when Katsudon’s voice comes from right behind him, scaring the everloving crap out of him. He hadn’t realized that Yuuri had followed him out of the banquet room until right that second.

“Yurio, why don’t I take those from you and you can show Otabek to your room?” he says with a smile, reaching forward to take back the dishes he had originally hoisted on Yuri in the first place. “Then you two can go join the others in the banquet room; I’ll tell Viktor or Mari-neesan to bring something in for you.”

Yuri mumbles a thanks as Katsudon takes the dishes the rest of the way to the kitchen. Otabek grabs his bag, and Yuri leads him to the room they’re going to share. He had been a little uncertain about sharing a room with Otabek at first, especially with his… news later, but Yu-topia was full to the bursting as it was and if he was going to be sharing with someone anyway, he definitely would prefer Otabek to literally anyone else that was there, so in the end, the choice had been made. He explains all this as they walk along, adding a, “So sorry if you didn’t want to share with me or something…”

“Yuri,” Otabek gets his attention. “I don’t know Viktor or Katsuki that well, so I really didn’t feel the need to come all the way here just for their wedding. I came in the end because you pointed out to me that we would get to spend time together. So stop worrying. It’s fine,” he finishes, smiling that little _only-for-Yuri_ smile that stabs him right in the heart each and every time he sees it, and he literally could not stop himself from smiling back, even if he wanted to. Which he doesn’t. Because Beka just told him he’d flown all the way to Japan just to hang out with him while using Katsudon and the old man’s wedding as an excuse to everyone else.

It really was no wonder Yuri had fallen for him so completely.

“Okay,” Yuri says, because he really doesn’t have anything else to say to that doesn’t begin with _i_ and end with _love you_ , but standing in the hallway of Yu-topia outside his bedroom with Otabek jet lagged and tired is not how he imagined his confession taking place, so he searches his brain for something else to say and eventually comes up with, “Let’s go eat.”

Not the most inspired thing, maybe, but it works. He manages to make it through the rest of the night without physically assaulting JJ (though that could have something to do with Isabella cutting him off, and Otabek’s calming presence at Yuri’s side), and when he falls into his bed later that night, he drifts off to sleep with an odd sense of calm, as though he’s perfectly at peace with the world and what’s going to happen in it tomorrow.

He wakes up feeling the exact opposite.

Leo had stumbled into Yu-topia just past seven that morning, hours later than he was expected, looking worse for wear and telling a story about awful weather cancelling flights. He manages to make it on time out of sheer luck, and stumbles off to a room to get as much sleep as possible before the wedding actually starts. This is the event that begins what Yuri likes to refer to as the comedy of errors.

(He’s the only one that finds it remotely amusing.)

  1. When talking Makkachin for his morning walk, Viktor trips and skins both his hands, dropping Makka’s leash.
  2. At that exact moment, Makkachin, normally a very well-behaved dog in Viktor’s presence, sees a squirrel, and being the dog that he is, chases it. When Viktor finally catches up to him fifteen minutes later, he’s covered in mud and has more brambles and twigs in his fur than is left on the bush he ran through.
  3. Back at Yu-topia, Katsudon is pulling up the pants on his tux, and accidentally steps sideways, overbalancing and toppling to the ground, putting a two-inch hole in the seam of his pants while he’s at it.
  4. Phichit wakes up to the startling realization that he never picked up the cake yesterday, and practically flies out the door still in his pajamas, frantically dialing the number of the bakery to make sure they don’t sell it to anyone else.
  5. Mari accidentally throws the box the rings are in out with the morning’s trash, and when she realizes her mistake, calmly and authoritatively orders Yuri to dig them out of the garbage for her.



By the time three o’clock rolls around, the official time of the start of the wedding, Yuri is honestly amazed that there’s even anything left to salvage. He had found the rings after digging through the trash for a solid ten minutes, then proceeded to take three showers, feeling like he’d never be clean again; Viktor enlists the help of Minami and the Nishigori triplets to give Makkachin a thorough bath before the wedding — as their ring-bearer, Makkachin needs to be pristine; it turns out that Hiroko is a whiz with a needle and thread, and has Katsudon’s pants fixed in a matter of seconds; Phichit stumbles in an hour before the wedding begins out of breath and sweating, but with the cake firmly in hand; which makes the only true casualty of the day Viktor’s skinned palms, which he wastes no time in having Katsudon gush over the practically invisible cuts on his hands, kissing each one better before he’ll even so much as think about putting his tux on.

All in all, despite the morning, the wedding goes off without a hitch, and even Yuri has to admit that they must be destined for each other if they can still pull off a seamless wedding with a morning like that preceding it. He most definitely does not cry during the ceremony, when they’re reciting their vows and staring into each other’s eyes so lovingly. When Yuri glances around though, and sees that there’s hardly another dry eye in the house, he doesn’t feel as weird admitting that okay, _maybe_ he cried.

The reception takes place on a section of beach near enough to Yu-topia that they can all walk there without issue. They had spent the past week setting up enough tables, chairs and beach umbrellas for all the guests, trying to figure out how to get them to stand upright on the sand without being in danger of falling over. It had been a bit of a nightmare at the time, but with the mild weather and gentle sound of the ocean in the background of all the merriment, Yuri thinks that maybe it was worth the trouble.

They break out the booze once it starts to get dark, the beach party now lit by the bonfire they had started a ways down the shore. Yuri begins to wander away from the party once he spots Viktor pop the champagne, giving his new husband the most disgusting set of bedroom eyes he’s ever seen when Yuuri blushes in response; he’s not going to wait around for the pig to have another sixteen glasses and have sex with Viktor on the beach in front of everyone, thank you very much.

He’s only been walking for about thirty seconds when someone comes up next to him, falling into step alongside him, and he doesn’t have to look to know that it’s Otabek. He smiles a little to himself. So far, so good.

“So,” Otabek starts, after they make it down the beach a ways, far enough that the noise from the party is no longer coherent as specific sounds. “That was a nice wedding.”

Yuri snorts before he can stop himself.

“It was alright,” he shrugs, shaking his head to get his hair out of his face so he can see Otabek better.

“Right,” Otabek agrees, a little smirk playing at his lips. “And I totally didn’t see you crying up there next to Viktor, either.”

“Shut up,” Yuri grumbles, allowing his steps to falter so he can use his momentum to hit his shoulder into Beka’s arm. Otabek just absorbs the blow, laughing a little at the look on Yuri’s face.

They walk for a while more in silence, until Yuri finally breaks. _It’s now or never._

“Hey, Beka… remember a couple weeks ago, Katsudon sent you that dumb text that I had something I wanted to talk to you about?” he starts, faltering a bit in his steps as he tries to gather his thoughts. He’s been building this moment up in his mind so much over the past few weeks that now that it’s finally here, he’s not quite sure how to go about actually getting the words out.

“Yes, I remember,” Otabek responds, with infinite patience.

Yuri falls silent again, still not entirely sure what to say. He knows he has all the time in the world, that Otabek will never push him to speak, but the pressure he feels from his own self is intense.

“If it’ll help,” Otabek says suddenly, making Yuri almost jump out of his skin. “I have something I want to say to you too.”

Yuri is surprised, but motions for Otabek to continue, now curious as well.

“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while,” Otabek stops walking and looks directly at Yuri. Yuri also halts, drawn by the intensity of Beka’s stare. “But I figured it was better to do it in person,” he clears his throat and shifts a bit where he stands, his polished shoes sinking into the sand. “I love you, Yuri.”

All at once, Yuri is simultaneously elated and pissed. Here he is, building up the courage, trying to find the exact right words to get across his feelings without being too overbearing or too mushy and Otabek just butts right in and steals his thunder. He chooses to ignore his rapidly beating heart or the blush rising on his cheeks, the heat he can feel in his ears because Beka loves him back. Oh no, shit just got real over here.

“Beka, you asshole!” Yuri yells his warcry, charging at Otabek and catching him around the middle, causing them both to fall to the sand in a flurry of limbs. Otabek lets out a groan, having taken the brunt of the hit, both from Yuri and the ground. Yuri is still trying to be mad, but even he can feel the huge grin on his face as he sits on Otabek’s chest and shouts, “What the hell! You can’t just steal my thunder like that, you dick! That’s what I was gonna say!”

Otabek blinks up at him, stunned for a moment, before he smiles, wider than Yuri’s ever seen before.

“Really?” he asks, reaching a hand up to tangle in Yuri’s hair, the other coming to rest on his knee. “I’m glad.”

And he tugs on the hair in his grip, bringing Yuri’s face closer to his, and Yuri only has a second to compose himself and close his eyes before their lips come together gently. The kiss doesn’t last for more than a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity for Yuri before Otabek pulls away, and when he opens his eyes again, Beka’s right there, staring back at him with the tenderest expression Yuri’s ever seen directed at himself. It immediately brings to mind all the times he’d called Viktor out for looking at Katsudon and calling them gross, but he has to say, now that it’s directed at him, that kind of look is… not so bad, maybe.

“Beka, I love you,” he says, because he realizes that he actually hasn’t said it yet, and it feels really nice to actually say those words after all this time. Otabek uses the hand he still has in Yuri’s hair to bring their foreheads together, and smiles for all he’s worth.

“I love you too, Yuri.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BONUS:

 

“So, I noticed that you and Otabek disappeared for a while last night.”

Yuri glances up from his breakfast to see Katsudon standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Amazingly, out of the two of them, Viktor had been the drunker one by the end of the night, despite the many bottles of champagne that had been opened. All the same, Yuri hadn’t expected to see either them until late afternoon, and a quick glance at his phone tells him it’s only just past ten.

“What’s it to you, Katsudon?” he grumbles around a mouthful of cereal. “I find it hard to believe you noticed anything other than Viktor’s ass last night.”

“Oh, I kept an eye on that too,” Yuuri responds easily, and Yuri almost chokes on his cereal. “But I also saw you walk away, and Otabek follow you. So? Did you get a chance to talk?”

And it’s only because Katsudon actually seems _concerned_ that Yuri deigns to tell him anything at all. When he’s done explaining that yes, he did keep his half-assed promise to them, the idiot couple, Yuuri smiles at him, full of such tender, loving emotion that Yuri almost has trouble swallowing.

“I’m really glad you worked it out, Yurio,” he says, and Yuri can feel the scowl slide onto his face. “I really meant it when I said that I thought you two would be happy together.”

“Yeah, whatever,” he mutters, glancing up at the pig, who for all intents and purposes seems to be completely enthralled in putting his own breakfast together. Yuri decides to risk it.

“...thanks.”

He flinches in preparation the moment the word leaves his lips, but all Katsudon does is send him a brilliantly bright smile. Huh. That wasn’t so bad, he decides. Maybe he’ll try it again sometime.

Then Viktor stumbles into the kitchen, moaning dramatically about his head and the sun and the noise as he drapes himself over his husband like a blanket, burying his face into his neck and making Katsudon flush a deep red even as he smiles.

Yeah, and maybe the once was enough, Yuri thinks to himself. He rolls his eyes at the idiot couple’s antics, but even he has to admit that the feeling in his chest is fond.

He’ll say it again someday. Maybe next time, it’ll even be in earshot of Viktor.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my small contribution to this lovely fandom!  
> If you enjoyed, please leave a comment or a kudo and let me know. :'D  
> I can also be found on tumblr @thelamestfad  
> or my otayuri/yoi sideblog @hessurelyaniceguy


End file.
